Month: May 2016

Safe Schools co-ordinator Roz Ward continued her extreme behaviour last week. This time, she proudly claimed on Facebook that the Australian flag was ‘racist’ and that a ‘red’ one should be flying on top of Victoria’s State Parliament instead:

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In what can only be described as homicidal economic science, Bill Shorten and Labor want to eradicate all negative gearing, except for new home constructions and reduce the capital gains tax discount from 50% to 25% (applying to assets held for more than a year). To make things really explosive, Shorten also announced that none of the changes would apply to properties purchased before July 2017.

Apparently, Shorten thinks this will solve the housing affordability ‘crisis’ while giving the government an extra $3 billion a year to play with. In other words, nowhere near enough money to solve the budget catastrophe but plenty enough to wreak havoc on everyday people’s lives and create complete uncertainty in the economy.

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The Australian brings yet another LGTBI ‘gender theory’ program to our attention today, this time called ‘Catching on Early’:

Written with input from the La Trobe University research centre, Catching on Early is a 200-page guide for primary schools that touches on gender theory and contains a lesson on “IVF, surrogacy and other ­assisted-conception treatments”.

For example, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is the epitome of populist politics, based on emotion and sympathy for the unfortunate and provoking hysteria when the viability of the scheme is questioned. It is projected to have a total annual cost of $22.1 billion when fully implemented in 2019-20, yet the National Disability Insurance Agency administering it has admitted this figure will blow out by many billions of dollars annually because it cannot control the cost of the program as it lacks the power to define ‘disability’ or even to require adequate evidence that any such affliction exists. Consequently, there will be some 460,000 people immediately supported under the scheme (at $48,000 each), and that number can be expected to grow exponentially as its ready accessibility becomes widely known. It has the potential to wreak economic and social havoc.

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Some of you may be aware that Quadrant will not receive any government funding for the first time in its 60 year existence (it applied for $60,000 this year). To say that Quadrant is less than impressed is an understatement.

There is little doubt that the Australia Council’s funding decision regarding Quadrant is the product of yet another institution taken over by the left. However, it’s also absurd and hypocritical that a conservative leaning enterprise such as Quadrant would complain about the level of government funding it receives and request donations. The fact that it has been using its government funding to subsidise its literary content (e.g. poetry, book reviews) doesn’t help either.

Quadrant’s own Roger Franklin seems to recognise this:

REASONABLE people can disagree about the role of government and taxpayers in funding the arts. Your more hard-line libertarians will tell you that underwriting ballets and operas and novels — or micro-circulation leftist journals, for that matter — is well beyond the purview of any government. Others might argue that the dissemination of culture is a good and worthy thing — just so long, that is, as the culture being disseminated is itself good and worthy.

Aside from the fact that I’m clearly a hard-line libertarian, I am also declining Quadrant’s handoutdonation request on the basis that there is a far better way for me to spend my money: subscribing*.

Simply put, Quadrant is a fantastic publication which has some of the finest and most intelligent articles you’ll read anywhere. It is a product well worth paying the price asked for.

For $59 a year, you will receive full online access to Quadrant’s content. Alternatively, for $84 a year, they will also deliver a paper copy of their monthly which you can walk into a restroom of your choice each morning if so inclined. In Gillardonomics and Swanspeak, it’s barely a cup of coffee a month. In normal talk, it’s great value for a highly-regarded product:

In the realm of ideas there has been no better publication in Australia over the last fifty years than Quadrant magazine.

— Former Prime Minister John Howard

(*) If you’re already a Quadrant subscriber and wish to donate extra, then that’s your own business.

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In her submissions to the Department of Local Government, Scaffidi incredibly tried to claim that it was ‘not in the public interest’ to pursue disciplinary action against her. Ironically, her argument served only to further highlight the utter contempt she has shown towards the public in this matter.

Paragraph 28 of the Department of Local Government report introduces us to Scaffidi’s ‘public interest’ defence. From there, paragraph 32 expands on Scaffidi’s slop, which is worth reading for entertainment value alone. As you’ll see, The Marcus Review just couldn’t help itself in providing some commentary along the way:

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You might think that this is not worthy of much attention because it ‘only’ involves the Perth Lord Mayor. However, the overwhelming volume and nature of the misconduct in question – combined with the Lord Mayor’s contemptuous behaviour since – require that we take a moment to stop, assess, process and ensure the due excretion of this waste from public office. Some basic justice wouldn’t go astray either.